[66] Distressed or frightened adults may whistle, hiss, or in extreme circumstances, scream. When their fur is soaked with oil, it loses its ability to retain air, and the animals can quickly die from hypothermia. [145] The fish species were usually bottom-dwelling and sedentary or sluggish forms, such as Hemilepidotus hemilepidotus and family Tetraodontidae. [57], The sea otter's use of rocks when hunting and feeding makes it one of the few mammal species to use tools. Predator: Great White Shark. South America’s marine otter — Lontra felina — is the smallest marine mammal in the world. Southern Sea Otter Friend Data; Voiced by: 山根綺 Yamane Aya. The sea otters at the Oregon Coast Aquarium are one of the most popular attractions. [56] Juveniles are typically independent at six to eight months, but a mother may be forced to abandon a pup if she cannot find enough food for it;[77] at the other extreme, a pup may nurse until it is almost adult size. Hunting records researched by historian Adele Ogden place the westernmost limit of the hunting grounds off the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido and the easternmost limit off Punta Morro Hermosa about 21.5 miles (34.6 km) south of Punta Eugenia, Baja California's westernmost headland in Mexico. Above: Aleut carving of a sea otter hunt on a whalebone spear. [63] During this time, males patrol the boundaries of their territories to exclude other males,[63] although actual fighting is rare. [195] Filmed five years previously at the Vancouver Aquarium, it was YouTube's most popular animal video at the time, although it has since been surpassed. It must eat 20% to 25% of its body weight every day to maintain normal body temperature, so it will spend much of the day foraging. [30] In adults, the head, throat, and chest are lighter in color than the rest of the body. He brings more than 30 years of professional marine mammal management, husbandry, rehabilitation, and training experience to the Aquarium. In 1973, the population in Alaska was estimated at between 100,000 and 125,000 animals. [184] The health of the kelp forest ecosystem is significant in nurturing populations of fish, including commercially important fish species. [55], The sea otter hunts in short dives, often to the sea floor. Historically, the range extended from Punta Abra Ojos, Baja California north to Prince William Sound Alaska. Three separate sub species live along the coasts of Russia, Alaska, and California. [194] In 2007, a YouTube video of two sea otters holding paws drew 1.5 million viewers in two weeks, and had over 20 million views as of January 2015[update]. [55] The sea otter may also pluck snails and other organisms from kelp and dig deep into underwater mud for clams. In some areas, massive declines in shellfish harvests have been blamed on the sea otter, and intense public debate has taken place over how to manage the competition between sea otters and humans for seafood. [101] In 2017 the US Geological Survey found a 3% drop in the sea otter population of the California coast. Scientific Name: Enhydra Lutris. [163] When Cook's ship later stopped at a Chinese port, the pelts rapidly sold at high prices, and were soon known as "soft gold". [94] Individuals generally occupy a home range a few kilometres long, and remain there year-round. However, it frequently occurs in small groups where food sources are plentiful and will rest in a group called a “raft.”. California’s southern sea otter has been listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act since 1977. It must eat an estimated 25 to 38% of its own body weight in food each day to burn the calories necessary to counteract the loss of heat due to the cold water environment. Wild sea otters typically have a lifespan between 15 and 20 years. [60] The Aleuts carved sea otter bones for use as ornaments and in games, and used powdered sea otter baculum as a medicine for fever. The urchin feeds on the holdfast or base of young kelp, which can set it adrift. [26], Under each foreleg, the sea otter has a loose pouch of skin that extends across the chest. Now, the only indigenous population of Southern Sea Otters resides along the coast of central California. [178] An estimated 1,200 sea otters live within the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, and more than 500 live within the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. M O L L U S K S. Habitat: Coasts of the Northern & Eastern … Although it can walk on land, the sea otter is capable of living exclusively in the ocean. Southern sea otters can live to approximately 15 years for males and 16 years for females. [41] Other observations indicate the sea otter's sense of sight is useful above and below the water, although not as good as that of seals. [96] The founder of Fort Ross, Ivan Kuskov, finding otters scarce on his second voyage to Bodega Bay in 1812, sent a party of Aleuts to San Francisco Bay, where they met another Russian party and an American party, and caught 1,160 sea otters in three months. [160] The Aleut population was reduced, by the Russians' own estimate, from 20,000 to 2,000. Southern Sea Otter . Endangered Species Act and “depleted” under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1977. The sea otter inhabits nearshore environments, where it dives to the sea floor to forage. To pry an abalone off its rock, it hammers the abalone shell using a large stone, with observed rates of 45 blows in 15 seconds. [104] The sea otter population in Prince William Sound was also hit hard by the Exxon Valdez oil spill, which killed thousands of sea otters in 1989. Sea otters, whose numbers were once estimated at 150,000–300,000, were hunted extensively for their fur between 1741 and 1911, and the world population fell to 1,000–2,000 individuals living in a fraction of their historic range. Forepaws are smaller with retractable claws and are used to groom, eat, and hold tools for breaking open prey. Females give live birth to, normally, one pup at a time. [65] Females coo when they are apparently content; males may grunt instead. An adult male sea otter may eat as many as 50 urchins each day. [168] So few remained, perhaps only 1,000–2,000 individuals in the wild, that many believed the species would become extinct. [96] "Yezo" refers to the island of Hokkaido in northern Japan. Kelp forests sequester (absorb and capture) CO2 from the atmosphere through photosynthesis. These plans were abandoned after many translocated otters died and also as it proved impractical to capture the hundreds of otters which ignored regulations and swam into the zone. This male is thought to have originated from a colony in Washington, but disappeared after a coastal storm. Versions of a widespread Aleut legend tell of lovers or despairing women who plunge into the sea and become otters. Sea urchins graze on the lower stems of kelp, causing the kelp to drift away and die. [100] By 2013, this population exceeded 1,100 individuals, was increasing at an estimated 12.6% annual rate, and its range included Aristazabal Island, and Milbanke Sound south to Calvert Island. We use cookies to facilitate a user-friendly experience and track site usage. In fact, at 850,000 to 1 million hairs per square inch, sea otters have the thickest fur of any mammal. [51], The sea otter is diurnal. [16], The last native sea otter in Oregon was probably shot and killed in 1906. [157] Thus began what is sometimes called the "Great Hunt", which would continue for another hundred years. [61] The largest raft ever seen contained over 2000 sea otters. [86] Sea otters in the wild often develop worn teeth, which may account for their apparently shorter lifespans. Once common along most of the coastal North Pacific Ocean from Japan to California, in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it was hunted to the verge of extinction for its prized pelt. The southern river otter can be found in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial habitats, but are mostly found in freshwater lakes and rivers having a significant amount of dense vegetation, especially along the shorelines, which must be present to use as cover. While sea otters have limited mobility on land they will typically spend their whole life in the water. It is unique among the mustelids in not making dens or burrows, in having no functional anal scent glands, and in being able to live its entire life without leaving the water. [67] They spend much time alone, and each adult can meet its own hunting, grooming, and defense needs [67], Sea otters are polygynous: males have multiple female partners. [24] For its size, the male otter's baculum is very large, massive and bent upwards, measuring 150 mm (5.9 in) in length and 15 mm (0.59 in) at the base. Under Aleksandr I, the administration of the merchant-controlled company was transferred to the Imperial Navy, largely due to the alarming reports by naval officers of native abuse; in 1818, the indigenous peoples of Alaska were granted civil rights equivalent to a townsman status in the Russian Empire. To a sea otter is a recurring figure in Ainu folklore chewing shelled, invertebrate prey United States, and. 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